WVC 21 A- 5 - 16
§21A-5-16. Collection of payments.
(a) The commissioner in the name of the state may commence a
civil action against an employer who, after due notice, defaults in
any payment, interest or penalty thereon required by this chapter.
Civil actions under this section shall be given preference on the
calendar of the court over all other civil actions except petitions
for judicial review under article seven of this chapter and cases
arising under the workers' compensation law. Upon prevailing in
any such civil action, the commissioner is entitled to recover
attorneys' fees and costs of action from the employer.

(b) Any payment, interest and penalty thereon due and unpaid
under this chapter is a debt due the state in favor of the
commissioner. It is a personal obligation of the employer
immediately due and owing and is, in addition thereto, a lien that
may be enforced as other judgment liens are enforced through the
provisions of chapter thirty-eight of this code and the same shall
be deemed by the circuit court to be a judgment lien for this
purpose against all the property of the employer: Provided, That
no such lien is enforceable as against a purchaser (including lien
creditor) of real estate or personal property for a valuable
consideration, without notice, unless docketed as provided in
article ten-c, chapter thirty-eight of this code.

(c) In addition to all other civil remedies prescribed hereinthe commissioner may in the name of the state, after giving
appropriate notice as required by due process, distrain upon any
personal property, including intangibles, of any employer
delinquent for any payment, interest and penalty thereon. If the
commissioner has good reason to believe that such property or a
substantial portion thereof is about to be removed from the county
in which it is situated, upon giving appropriate notice, either
before or after the seizure, as is proper in the circumstances, he
or she may likewise distrain in the name of the state before such
delinquency occurs. For purposes of effecting a distraint under
this subsection, the commissioner may require the services of a
sheriff of any county in the state in levying distress in the
county in which the sheriff is an officer and in which the
employer's personal property is situated. A sheriff so collecting
any payments, interest and penalties thereon is entitled to
compensation as provided by law for his or her services in the levy
and enforcement of executions. Upon prevailing in any distraint
action, the commissioner is entitled to recover his or her attorney
fees and costs of action from the employer.

(d) In case a business subject to the payments, interest and
penalties thereon imposed under this chapter is operated in
connection with a receivership or insolvency proceeding in any
state court in this state, the court under whose direction suchbusiness is operated shall, by the entry of a proper order or
decree in the cause, make provision, so far as the assets in
administration will permit, for the regular payment of such
payments as the same become due.

(e) The secretary of state of this state shall withhold the
issuance of any certificate of dissolution or withdrawal in the
case of any corporation organized under the laws of this state, or
organized under the laws of another state and admitted to do
business in this state, until notified by the commissioner that all
payments, interest and penalties thereon against any such
corporation which is an employer under this chapter have been paid
or that provision satisfactory to the commissioner has been made
for payment.

(f) In any case where an employer defaults in payments,
interest or penalties thereon, for as many as two calendar
quarters, which quarters need not be consecutive, and remains
delinquent after due notice, the commissioner may bring action in
the circuit court of Kanawha County to enjoin that employer from
continuing to carry on the business in which such liability was
incurred: Provided, That the commissioner may as an alternative to
this action require such delinquent employer to file a bond in the
form prescribed by the commissioner with satisfactory surety in an
amount not less than fifty percent more than the payments, interestand penalties due.

(g) Amounts of payments and penalties collected under this
section shall be deposited to the credit of the unemployment
compensation trust fund. Amounts of interest, attorneys' fees and
costs collected under this section shall be paid into the
employment security special administration fund. Any such amounts
are not to be treated by the auditor or treasurer as part of the
general revenue of the state.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
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